Round 3 Strangers: Eureka
Eureka
Vid Used
"Hummingbird Pneumonia" by talitha78 (talitha78 @ livejournal.com)
download: http://talitha78.livejournal.com/167510.html
Grokker Synopsis
Welcome to Eureka! Eureka, Oregon is a town full of geniuses. Established by the Department of Defense in the 1940’s, Eureka has been responsible for most of the major inventions of the past sixty years, including all the awesome ones we can’t tell you about. Nearly everyone in Eureka works for Global Dynamics, which is where most of the innovation happens. (A good chunk of the rest comes from the high school science fair.)
Citizens of Eureka: Dr. Henry Deacon: Usually found wearing his mechanic’s coveralls and a hat, Henry knows pretty much everything, from astrophysics to biology to how to fix Eureka’s one stoplight. Sheriff Jack Carter: Blond, Sheriff uniform-wearing Jack only recently moved to Eureka from Los Angeles, but he has already saved the town (and the world) from some of the … accidents that happen on the cutting edge of science. Jack’s daughter, Zoe, has awesome and ever-changing hair. While she and Jack often argue, they’re actually very close. Dr. Allison Blake: Allison is the DoD’s representative in Eureka, in addition to being a medical doctor. She often serves as the voice of reason when Jack, Henry or Nathan want to do something crazy, which accounts for the exasperated expression Allison often wears above her business suit. She has a son, Kevin, who is an autistic genius. She and Jack were married in an alternate future timeline. Dr. Nathan Stark: Nathan is the Director of GD, and Allison’s ex-husband. Their relationship is…. complicated. Nathan has a Nobel Prize, and he didn’t win it for his beard (but he could have, if they had a prize for beards). Deputy Jo Lupo: Jo is an ex-Army Ranger who can kick your ass with any weapon she likes, up to and including very large guns. Dr. Douglas Fargo: Fargo is a mild-mannered geek who spends his spare time building robots and watching Buffy repeats. For all that, he’s kind of cute with his sweaters and glasses, though Jo would disagree. Vincent: Vincent and his amazing sideburns run Café Diem. There’s no menu, but Vincent can make any food you can think of. Dr. Kim Anderson: Kim was Henry’s long lost love, and her death was very difficult for him. Dr. Jim Taggert: Taggert is an Australian cryptozoologist who prefers to interact with nature in his, um, natural state. Taggert and Jo were also involved in the alternate future timeline. Dr. Beverly Barlowe: Beverly own the local Bed and Breakfast in addition to being a psychiatrist, both to the residents of Eureka and to several high ranking government officials. She knows more about what goes on in Eureka than she is willing to admit, and she may not be using that information for good.
Objects of Interest: The Artifact: While the Artifact resembles a huge pile of space noodles, it doesn’t appear to be connected to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The Artifact is somehow connected to Kevin. Nathan is almost obsessed with studying it, and it was in the course of that study that Kim was killed, in a tragic lab accident. S.A.R.A.H.: Short for Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat, S.A.R.A.H. is the ultimate smart house. While she was designed by Fargo, currently Jack and Zoe live there. Section 5: Section 5 is the most classified part of GD. The Artifact is in Section 5, as is Weapons Research.
Life in Eureka: Life in Eureka is a lot like any small town. Sure, sometimes things happen. Like the time the missile silos popped up and we almost destroyed Russia. Or the time those scientists from Section 5 invented that drug that made people move really, really fast. Or the time those flowers made everyone lose their inhibitions and do whatever they felt like doing. All right, possibly Eureka doesn’t have much in common with a typical small town. But we like it here anyways.
Stranger Synopses
Stranger 1
All I knew about this fandom was:
When I signed up, I only knew that there was a living house, and her name was Sarah. Also it's a fish-out-of-water thing with a policeman from a non-freaky town who was dropped in with a bunch of smart people. Then before assignments went out, I had a chance to see the opening episode for the back half of Season 3... and realized there were another couple of characters, and that someone was preggers, and that most of the town hold a PHD in Advanced Technobabble.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
Quirky images! Tai Chi in the park with a hologram, triangular bubbles! Samurai in the forests! Military invasions into small town Americana! Clones (adult and child)! Explosions! Gadgets galore! Also a happy black man who (I should have said in my previous paragraph) ends up being the Mayor and having some kind of Deep Dark Secret In His Past. But here he's happy so that's cool. This is a fast paced show about people doing all the stuff you read about in 60s pulp scifi, and enjoying it (while also occasionally participating in Comic Nudity) . There was a pregnant lady who I don't think was the same pregnant lady I saw in that one episode though of course that could be wrong. La la la major rush of characters I didn't have time to distinguish from the mob and then I swear at one point I saw Henry from The Time Traveler's Wife but surely it was just some dude who looked like him? Unless this show is about the Mad Crossovers in which case sign me up.
Stranger 2
All I knew about this fandom was:
I'd heard the name. For some reason I thought it was a Western.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
NOT A WESTERN. Not even close. It appears to be the television version of the movie Men In Black, except instead of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, the heroes are a black guy in a mechanic's coverall, who has braids and a really sweet expression and reminds me of the alien in Brother From Another Planet, and a white guy who from the glimpses of the star on his shirt (when he's wearing a shirt; more on this later) might be a cop.
Anyway, Mechanic and Cop run around saving the world from various alien menaces, including women with improbably red hair, geese, monkeys, swimmers, and ninjas. Often this requires Cop to take his shirt off. (Hmm, this is beginning to sound like that Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart video, isn't it.)
Flashing lights are involved. So are automatically-deploying sunglasses, tiny cars, and space-age weaponry, from which I deduce that this takes place sometime in the future. Things blow up a lot but nobody seems to get irrevocably hurt, from which I deduce that either medical technology has improved by then, or weapons technology has declined.
Whichever it is, it looks like a fun world to be in. Also, men take off their shirts frequently in it, which is definitely a plus.
Stranger 3
All I knew about this fandom was:
Eureka is a town populated by mad scientists. I think. Maybe. I'm guessing it's either all top-secret, or the surrounding towns think they're a bunch of loonies. I'm confident it has nothing to do with the Eureka Stockade.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
There's a chameleon. Shows with chameleons tend to be odd ("Slings & Arrows" anyone?). I take the chameleon as an omen of weirdness.
There's the guy from Terminator 2, this time with interesting hair, and very interesting shirts (hereby dubbed Dr Skynet). He's one of the mad scientists. I'm betting when the other mad scientists talk about him there are a lot of Meaningful Looks, and "crazy" gestures. There's also a tall blonde guy with a strong jaw who appears to be new in town and has a "why does this shit keep happening to me?!" vibe about him. I'm guessing he also has things explained to him a lot. He also seems to be what passes for law enforcement in these parts, so I hereby dub him Sheriff Audience Substitute. I bet these two guys get slashed all the time.
There are a lot of holograms in this town, but they appear to have Rimmer's light bee trapped in a glowy field, so I'm led to assume the town is complicit in some kind of hologram slavery racket, and Rimmer was either the leader of an uprising of some kind, or just too damn annoying. Either way, they had to lock him up.
The people in this town have interesting tendencies when it comes to vehicles: Sheriff Audience Substitute has a tiny eco-car, the local mothers have strollers the size of the USS Enterprise, and there's a fleet of army humvees. I'm willing to be the local car dealership has a very eclectic product range. The same appears to go for their range of hazmat suits - they don't have a particular standard model, but seem to go for whatever won't clash with the current crisis - fashion-conscious, sure, but I'm certain the deliberation required eats up valuable time in an emergency. Dr SkyNet just seems to wear some guy called Henry's overalls all the time. I wonder if Henry minds?
The folks around town also don't seem to go for conventional team sports - preferring tai chi, and synchronized swimming. Fair enough, I suppose - what with everything that happens in town, the last thing these folks need is more stress.
Given that the surrounding countryside is full of skeletal white trees - the grazing lands of Minis Tirith? - I'm guessing they get most of their produce shipped in. Nobody around here seems too interested in farming. Sheriff Audience Substitute seems concerned about this, but it's really something he should take up with the local council, as it's not a law enforcement issue, and that cow really doesn't seem to care either.
Also, the local superhero is Zorro, and he fights against outbursts of public nudity (though, considering aforementioned public nudity seems to happen mostly to the pretty people in town, I'd say that makes him a supervillain).
See, I knew it - chameleons = weird shows.
Stranger 4
All I knew about this fandom was:
Absolutely nothing. That's assuming this isn't some sort of spin off or adult version of Eureeka's Castle. Otherwise, I may know quite a bit about it.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
Okay, so definitely not related to Eureeka's Castle. I didn't spy any music box castle, dragon, or swamp creatures who love pb&j. Though, there appeared to be a blond girl who wore a hat that made her look like Eureeka and there were several large flashes and bangs. I think this show definitely fits into the sci-fi genre.
Basically, sometime in the future there's a fancy advanced research lab that creates all these cool futuristic things like cloning, invisible people, robots, and laser guns. It seems that their creations and experiments tend to escape the lab and there's a team of people who go out to capture/retrieve said experiments and bring them back in. There also may be contact with aliens who fly giant phallus shaped rockets and make crop circles. The retrieval team may be involved in contacting/bringing in the alien related paraphernalia.
I'm not quite sure how Henry and his garage fit into this. He appears to be from the past, maybe his kids work in this place? Or maybe he founded the research facility. I bet it used to be under his garage. The people from the lab created a time portal and came to bring him to the future because they needed him, but he couldn't stay.
The guy who appears to be one of the main characters likes to take his shirt off a lot. And sometimes get naked. So does the other older guy. Not quite sure how that fits into the rest of the show, though. Maybe it's just a quirk.
Also, they have a lot of animals in the lab, who appear to take over things. In the vid I spied geese, jellyfish, monkeys, and wolves. I bet the monkeys are running the place, the wolves are security, the geese are the office workers, and the jellyfish are the hive mind behind everything. Meanwhile the humans are just there to do their bidding. ;)
Stranger 5
All I knew about this fandom was:
Nada
Here's what this fandom is really about:
It's a sci-fi show set in the future where we all drive weird looking cars and wear bright clothing. However, it turns out this is just a fictional world designed and maintained by Miles Dyson from Terminator 2 in the back of his garage.
Miles is a scientist, so his world looks like a never ending science fair. He likes to go play in the world, and his friends are an eclectic bunch including a guy who likes to walk round naked... in fact a lot of people in his world like to get naked... I'm not sure it's *that* kind of show though...! He's also friends with an invisible person (man, woman?), chick with gun, a robot, zorro, and a man with a green nose. He also like to go to aqua aerobics and church.
Miles likes to keep things exciting for the inhabitants of his world, so he throws in aliens, wolves, talking geese and performing monkeys to liven things up. Oh and weather, he likes playing with the weather. He also has a talking chameleon, but that's in the real world.
Stranger 6
All I knew about this fandom was:
I know it's sci-fi, but someone once told me that it was sci-fi on the goofier/fluffier side of things. That's okay--I like goofy :)
Here's what this fandom is really about:
This show is brought to you by Miles Dyson (you know, the one who invented Skynet and killed all the humans without meaning to in Terminator 2), a hot Middle Aged White Guy and a bunch of Military/Government Scientists played by Every Canadian Actor You've Seen In Every Vancouver-Based Show Ever (cue nods to Smallville, Supernatural, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica and Many Others).
But this show is really about...
Lizards. Blinky sci-fi things. Explosions. Small cute cars. A town full of really odd people. Lots and LOTS of eccentric people in different matching outfits. Bombs. Government experiments. Really cool sunglasses. Gratutious manflesh ogling opportunities. Using goverment experiements on your friends. More silly outfits. Brilliant scientists and military disasters. The beautiful, meaningful Bromance between Miles Dyson and hot Middle Aged White Guy. Tentacles. Freezing time and blowing shit up. Portals to other dimensions. Robots! Aliens! Adorable kids! Goofy grown-ups! People who love each other, even when they are giving each other a REALLY hard time.
This is, above all else, a show about wacky wacky hijinks of the highest nerd order.
And now I really want to go watch this show!
Stranger 7
All I knew about this fandom was:
It has something to do with scientists
Here's what this fandom is really about:
OMG, how much do I want to work in this place? It is AWESOME. They seem to be working on interplanetary DOODADS! They have thingies hovering in plasma! The thingy is a power source for a giant ray they can shoot into SPACE! And blow up alien invaders, clearly. Makes the fireworks seem kinda tame in comparison.
They also develop electric cars. Good ones that can actually go fast! Except they’re tiny so they’re kinda funny looking zooming along. I still want one. It seems to be an entire town of shiny science stuff. Which makes the school science fair rather interesting, to say the least.
I’m starting to think the whole town is science focused. That’s why there are random people standing in front of a coffee shop with molecular models and devices. But, umm, guys? You’re not supposed to wear your labcoat outside the wetlab. Health and Safety would NOT approve. They are clearly singing “Who wants to buy this bleepy thiiiiiiiiiing?” Just ‘cause.
It’s not always all science all the time though! They organized Taichi for Nerds! So everyone feels comfortable! And they seem to have a chapter of the SCA too. They’re the ones who are doing the research on the time space continuum that causes everything to slow down in the town every once in a while.
When the really weird alien stuff shows up, so does the military. They don’t really accomplish all that much. Wouldn’t it be nice if just once the alien threat WASN’T completely immune to bullets? Good thing the people at the facility have all their neat gizmos!
Since the military didn’t help much, the scientists had to redouble their efforts. Now they’re working on a teleporter so they can go fight the aliens face to face! Dixon in Goggles seems to be the major player in this project. Go Dixon in Goggles!
Ooh, Dixon in Goggles learned how to shoot a gun in among all the body scans of the aliens. The aliens are really shiny, so he designed rapidly deploying sunglasses. I’m not sure why they couldn’t just use regular sunglasses, but these ones are SO COOL that I’m not going to complain.
Ooh, they also developed a gadget that lets people Matrix it up when fighting. Good for them!
Aww, Dixon in Goggles is gonna have a baby. Well, his wife is. There’s so much weird stuff in this show, I feel I must clarify that.
Ooh, they’re also building robots. Are those to fight the aliens? Or just to run errands? On a treadmill.
I bet the red glowy gun is for fighting aliens. That’s what I’d use it for if I had an alien problem.
MONKEYS AND GEESE. The monkeys appear to be running the control thing to the big teleporter thing. Good for them. The geese mostly seem to be there to pester Bureaucrat Man.
They seem to be excited with all the progress they’re making. Ooh, they made something that shoots fire! All science is better with fire! Except then the adapted it to shoot a big green death beam into space. These scientists must be so sad their skills are being used for violent weapons instead of time travel thingies.
The invisibility cloak needs work though. First it disappears the person... but not the cloak. Then it disappears the clothes and nothing else. Neither of these really accomplish the goal.
Dixon in Goggles has to test the teleporter. His wife doesn’t like this notion very much, but she knows it has to be done. After a bit of fighting, he steps into the... stargate? Which leads into a giant brain thing. Freaky.
It also travels in time, sending him forward to when his kid is over. His wife is rather happy to finally see him after all these years that are but minutes to him. And there is snuggling.
Stranger 8
All I knew about this fandom was:
zilch. Perhaps it's about Einstein, I think to myself, and then I think, wait, was he the one who said "eureka"? Someone said it, I'm sure of it, and it's possibly about that guy.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
A team of Super Awesome Researchers (team members include Token Female, Token Non-Whitey, and Token Blokey-Male) discover that there’s a parallel universe, and they also work out how to get there! Unfortunately, when they get there (and discover that it’s simultaneously cooler AND weirder than they ever could have imagined), they realise that they hadn’t worked out a way to get home again. So they pretend to be a team of Super Awesome Investigators/Problem Solvers. The show is mostly about them a) engaging in wacky hijinx, b) helping people who are in trouble, and c) attempting to find a way home. Eventually they start to come to grips with the fact that there is no way home, and start to form emotional attachments to the people they’ve met. It is during this time that they discover the way home! Hurrah! Unfortunately, Token Non-Whitey is about to propose to the lady with whom he has had a child. They sadly say goodbye as he leaves forever, to go back to his old home. It’s pretty sad.
Stranger 9
All I knew about this fandom was:
I knew the name from ads on Stargate: Atlantis, and anything associated with SGA has to be good! I believe it is sci-fi, but I also think I heard somewhere that it was about a small town somewhere or, um, something. I could be making all this up, who knows? I can tell you with absolute certainty, however, that it is about people. They, uh, do stuff.
What this fandom’s really about:
So, clearly I was wrong about the sci-fi and the small town (and also the people!), because actually this show is about the adventures of Sid the Druggie Chameleon. These adventures mostly involve bizarre sci-fi-esque technologies, animals in unexpected places, and lots of people wandering around naked. There are worse adventures to have, really.
The show is set in an ordinary small town where people do ordinary things like make floating pyramid sculptures and learn martial arts from holographic teachers and play fourway chess against their four clones. Then! One day, the locals’ lives are turned upside-down when a giant metal phallic object is dropped in the middle of their town. Suddenly, the military is storming in with teams of scientists. Soon, giant laboratories with large satellite dishes are being constructed (the satellites don’t actually do anything except give them really good tv reception, but damn do they look impressive). The scientists wander around looking pensive and intrigued by all the bizarre occurrences in the town, but they don’t actually do very much except wave clipboards around and stare at pretty lights. They do get followed around by ducks and accidentally turn people into chimpanzees rather a lot, though.
Apart from Sid, the hero of this show is Henry, who owns a garage which is secretly a lab for building robots. He also does actual research. He is adorably dorky and wears giant goggles and talks into magnifying glasses. He has a boyfriend called Larry, who exercises wearing a t-shirt that demands everyone RELAX, and he takes this advice so seriously himself that he mostly tends to forget about clothes (Henry doesn’t really mind). There’s also Officer Badass, who walks around with massive guns and is, as her name suggests, fucking badass. There also seem to be a couple of other people who help Henry in secret lab. This mostly consists of trying to stop the government-funded idiots blowing up the world while doing their job for them and managing to keep the town’s cars running perfectly.
There seem to be lots of things exploding and implausible technological machines and general crazy sci-fi hi jinks going on. Most people seem to either wear party costumes, hazmat suits or nothing at all. People randomly turn invisible and apparently there’s a kid with magical healing powers or something. And robots. Lots of robots. There are also pretty girls who can’t seem to decide if they’re going to shoot each other or snog.
Conclusion? This show seems awesome and I want to watch it now! (I hope it really is as cracky as it seems...)
Stranger 10
All I knew about this fandom was:
I conflate it in my mind with Psych. I wasn't sure why I did that until I saw who the vid was by: talitha78! Aha! I have seen this vid. It's 'that other show I don't know that talitha78 vids' (the first being Psych). Despite that I can't remember a thing about it except that it may be comedy?
What this fandom’s really about:
A small town in America holds an annual convention where all the science nerds can gather and geek out at each other's useless inventions. Things like holograms, atom bombs, healing technology, robots ... Small stuff. Naturally the army shows up to make sure they can sign up anyone who's actually got anything interesing. There are lots of little pocket cliques among the science nerds: the chess guys, the kendo recreation club... you get the picture.
There are two main characters. Let's call the first one Steve. It's Steve's first time at the convention and he drives up in his little hybrid (clearly he has a social conscience), determined to change the world. The second character is the guy I liked in Jericho (though I can't remember either the actor's name or the character's). Let's call him... Cool Dude. Cool Dude's one of the convention organiser. His job is to clear up all the messes amateur scientists create. He and Steve are old college buddies but he's never persuaded Steve to come work with him before. Now Steve's here to make a difference! Until he sees it's all just a bit whacked. Never mind, some lolz result.
They experience some moments of satisfaction and a whole lot of frustration. This is a job where you never know what you'll face in the morning: ray gun technology, invisible people, energy fields... ducks.
While Steve's science skills aren't as great as Cool Dude's, he is good spirited about doing the physical work. And losing his clothes occasionally. At first there seems to be some subtext between Cool Dude and Steve, but this gets derailed when Cool Dude becomes fixated with doing more than just be a con organiser... he gets involved (unclear whether just as a friend or romantically) with a woman who is interested in the connection between religion and science. Steve is skeptical. Religious chick has a little kid who wants to be Cool Dude when he grows up, but who meanwhile gets treated as a test subject. Cool Dude and religious chick manage to freeze time, at least briefly. No one cares though it possibly cures religious chick's cancer. Yay.
There's a warm fuzzy ending to the show since it's mainly a feel good comedy. With some gratuitous shirt-removal by Steve.
Vid Used
"Hummingbird Pneumonia" by talitha78 (talitha78 @ livejournal.com)
download: http://talitha78.livejournal.com/167510.html
Grokker Synopsis
Welcome to Eureka! Eureka, Oregon is a town full of geniuses. Established by the Department of Defense in the 1940’s, Eureka has been responsible for most of the major inventions of the past sixty years, including all the awesome ones we can’t tell you about. Nearly everyone in Eureka works for Global Dynamics, which is where most of the innovation happens. (A good chunk of the rest comes from the high school science fair.)
Citizens of Eureka: Dr. Henry Deacon: Usually found wearing his mechanic’s coveralls and a hat, Henry knows pretty much everything, from astrophysics to biology to how to fix Eureka’s one stoplight. Sheriff Jack Carter: Blond, Sheriff uniform-wearing Jack only recently moved to Eureka from Los Angeles, but he has already saved the town (and the world) from some of the … accidents that happen on the cutting edge of science. Jack’s daughter, Zoe, has awesome and ever-changing hair. While she and Jack often argue, they’re actually very close. Dr. Allison Blake: Allison is the DoD’s representative in Eureka, in addition to being a medical doctor. She often serves as the voice of reason when Jack, Henry or Nathan want to do something crazy, which accounts for the exasperated expression Allison often wears above her business suit. She has a son, Kevin, who is an autistic genius. She and Jack were married in an alternate future timeline. Dr. Nathan Stark: Nathan is the Director of GD, and Allison’s ex-husband. Their relationship is…. complicated. Nathan has a Nobel Prize, and he didn’t win it for his beard (but he could have, if they had a prize for beards). Deputy Jo Lupo: Jo is an ex-Army Ranger who can kick your ass with any weapon she likes, up to and including very large guns. Dr. Douglas Fargo: Fargo is a mild-mannered geek who spends his spare time building robots and watching Buffy repeats. For all that, he’s kind of cute with his sweaters and glasses, though Jo would disagree. Vincent: Vincent and his amazing sideburns run Café Diem. There’s no menu, but Vincent can make any food you can think of. Dr. Kim Anderson: Kim was Henry’s long lost love, and her death was very difficult for him. Dr. Jim Taggert: Taggert is an Australian cryptozoologist who prefers to interact with nature in his, um, natural state. Taggert and Jo were also involved in the alternate future timeline. Dr. Beverly Barlowe: Beverly own the local Bed and Breakfast in addition to being a psychiatrist, both to the residents of Eureka and to several high ranking government officials. She knows more about what goes on in Eureka than she is willing to admit, and she may not be using that information for good.
Objects of Interest: The Artifact: While the Artifact resembles a huge pile of space noodles, it doesn’t appear to be connected to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The Artifact is somehow connected to Kevin. Nathan is almost obsessed with studying it, and it was in the course of that study that Kim was killed, in a tragic lab accident. S.A.R.A.H.: Short for Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat, S.A.R.A.H. is the ultimate smart house. While she was designed by Fargo, currently Jack and Zoe live there. Section 5: Section 5 is the most classified part of GD. The Artifact is in Section 5, as is Weapons Research.
Life in Eureka: Life in Eureka is a lot like any small town. Sure, sometimes things happen. Like the time the missile silos popped up and we almost destroyed Russia. Or the time those scientists from Section 5 invented that drug that made people move really, really fast. Or the time those flowers made everyone lose their inhibitions and do whatever they felt like doing. All right, possibly Eureka doesn’t have much in common with a typical small town. But we like it here anyways.
Stranger Synopses
Stranger 1
All I knew about this fandom was:
When I signed up, I only knew that there was a living house, and her name was Sarah. Also it's a fish-out-of-water thing with a policeman from a non-freaky town who was dropped in with a bunch of smart people. Then before assignments went out, I had a chance to see the opening episode for the back half of Season 3... and realized there were another couple of characters, and that someone was preggers, and that most of the town hold a PHD in Advanced Technobabble.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
Quirky images! Tai Chi in the park with a hologram, triangular bubbles! Samurai in the forests! Military invasions into small town Americana! Clones (adult and child)! Explosions! Gadgets galore! Also a happy black man who (I should have said in my previous paragraph) ends up being the Mayor and having some kind of Deep Dark Secret In His Past. But here he's happy so that's cool. This is a fast paced show about people doing all the stuff you read about in 60s pulp scifi, and enjoying it (while also occasionally participating in Comic Nudity) . There was a pregnant lady who I don't think was the same pregnant lady I saw in that one episode though of course that could be wrong. La la la major rush of characters I didn't have time to distinguish from the mob and then I swear at one point I saw Henry from The Time Traveler's Wife but surely it was just some dude who looked like him? Unless this show is about the Mad Crossovers in which case sign me up.
Stranger 2
All I knew about this fandom was:
I'd heard the name. For some reason I thought it was a Western.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
NOT A WESTERN. Not even close. It appears to be the television version of the movie Men In Black, except instead of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, the heroes are a black guy in a mechanic's coverall, who has braids and a really sweet expression and reminds me of the alien in Brother From Another Planet, and a white guy who from the glimpses of the star on his shirt (when he's wearing a shirt; more on this later) might be a cop.
Anyway, Mechanic and Cop run around saving the world from various alien menaces, including women with improbably red hair, geese, monkeys, swimmers, and ninjas. Often this requires Cop to take his shirt off. (Hmm, this is beginning to sound like that Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart video, isn't it.)
Flashing lights are involved. So are automatically-deploying sunglasses, tiny cars, and space-age weaponry, from which I deduce that this takes place sometime in the future. Things blow up a lot but nobody seems to get irrevocably hurt, from which I deduce that either medical technology has improved by then, or weapons technology has declined.
Whichever it is, it looks like a fun world to be in. Also, men take off their shirts frequently in it, which is definitely a plus.
Stranger 3
All I knew about this fandom was:
Eureka is a town populated by mad scientists. I think. Maybe. I'm guessing it's either all top-secret, or the surrounding towns think they're a bunch of loonies. I'm confident it has nothing to do with the Eureka Stockade.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
There's a chameleon. Shows with chameleons tend to be odd ("Slings & Arrows" anyone?). I take the chameleon as an omen of weirdness.
There's the guy from Terminator 2, this time with interesting hair, and very interesting shirts (hereby dubbed Dr Skynet). He's one of the mad scientists. I'm betting when the other mad scientists talk about him there are a lot of Meaningful Looks, and "crazy" gestures. There's also a tall blonde guy with a strong jaw who appears to be new in town and has a "why does this shit keep happening to me?!" vibe about him. I'm guessing he also has things explained to him a lot. He also seems to be what passes for law enforcement in these parts, so I hereby dub him Sheriff Audience Substitute. I bet these two guys get slashed all the time.
There are a lot of holograms in this town, but they appear to have Rimmer's light bee trapped in a glowy field, so I'm led to assume the town is complicit in some kind of hologram slavery racket, and Rimmer was either the leader of an uprising of some kind, or just too damn annoying. Either way, they had to lock him up.
The people in this town have interesting tendencies when it comes to vehicles: Sheriff Audience Substitute has a tiny eco-car, the local mothers have strollers the size of the USS Enterprise, and there's a fleet of army humvees. I'm willing to be the local car dealership has a very eclectic product range. The same appears to go for their range of hazmat suits - they don't have a particular standard model, but seem to go for whatever won't clash with the current crisis - fashion-conscious, sure, but I'm certain the deliberation required eats up valuable time in an emergency. Dr SkyNet just seems to wear some guy called Henry's overalls all the time. I wonder if Henry minds?
The folks around town also don't seem to go for conventional team sports - preferring tai chi, and synchronized swimming. Fair enough, I suppose - what with everything that happens in town, the last thing these folks need is more stress.
Given that the surrounding countryside is full of skeletal white trees - the grazing lands of Minis Tirith? - I'm guessing they get most of their produce shipped in. Nobody around here seems too interested in farming. Sheriff Audience Substitute seems concerned about this, but it's really something he should take up with the local council, as it's not a law enforcement issue, and that cow really doesn't seem to care either.
Also, the local superhero is Zorro, and he fights against outbursts of public nudity (though, considering aforementioned public nudity seems to happen mostly to the pretty people in town, I'd say that makes him a supervillain).
See, I knew it - chameleons = weird shows.
Stranger 4
All I knew about this fandom was:
Absolutely nothing. That's assuming this isn't some sort of spin off or adult version of Eureeka's Castle. Otherwise, I may know quite a bit about it.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
Okay, so definitely not related to Eureeka's Castle. I didn't spy any music box castle, dragon, or swamp creatures who love pb&j. Though, there appeared to be a blond girl who wore a hat that made her look like Eureeka and there were several large flashes and bangs. I think this show definitely fits into the sci-fi genre.
Basically, sometime in the future there's a fancy advanced research lab that creates all these cool futuristic things like cloning, invisible people, robots, and laser guns. It seems that their creations and experiments tend to escape the lab and there's a team of people who go out to capture/retrieve said experiments and bring them back in. There also may be contact with aliens who fly giant phallus shaped rockets and make crop circles. The retrieval team may be involved in contacting/bringing in the alien related paraphernalia.
I'm not quite sure how Henry and his garage fit into this. He appears to be from the past, maybe his kids work in this place? Or maybe he founded the research facility. I bet it used to be under his garage. The people from the lab created a time portal and came to bring him to the future because they needed him, but he couldn't stay.
The guy who appears to be one of the main characters likes to take his shirt off a lot. And sometimes get naked. So does the other older guy. Not quite sure how that fits into the rest of the show, though. Maybe it's just a quirk.
Also, they have a lot of animals in the lab, who appear to take over things. In the vid I spied geese, jellyfish, monkeys, and wolves. I bet the monkeys are running the place, the wolves are security, the geese are the office workers, and the jellyfish are the hive mind behind everything. Meanwhile the humans are just there to do their bidding. ;)
Stranger 5
All I knew about this fandom was:
Nada
Here's what this fandom is really about:
It's a sci-fi show set in the future where we all drive weird looking cars and wear bright clothing. However, it turns out this is just a fictional world designed and maintained by Miles Dyson from Terminator 2 in the back of his garage.
Miles is a scientist, so his world looks like a never ending science fair. He likes to go play in the world, and his friends are an eclectic bunch including a guy who likes to walk round naked... in fact a lot of people in his world like to get naked... I'm not sure it's *that* kind of show though...! He's also friends with an invisible person (man, woman?), chick with gun, a robot, zorro, and a man with a green nose. He also like to go to aqua aerobics and church.
Miles likes to keep things exciting for the inhabitants of his world, so he throws in aliens, wolves, talking geese and performing monkeys to liven things up. Oh and weather, he likes playing with the weather. He also has a talking chameleon, but that's in the real world.
Stranger 6
All I knew about this fandom was:
I know it's sci-fi, but someone once told me that it was sci-fi on the goofier/fluffier side of things. That's okay--I like goofy :)
Here's what this fandom is really about:
This show is brought to you by Miles Dyson (you know, the one who invented Skynet and killed all the humans without meaning to in Terminator 2), a hot Middle Aged White Guy and a bunch of Military/Government Scientists played by Every Canadian Actor You've Seen In Every Vancouver-Based Show Ever (cue nods to Smallville, Supernatural, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica and Many Others).
But this show is really about...
Lizards. Blinky sci-fi things. Explosions. Small cute cars. A town full of really odd people. Lots and LOTS of eccentric people in different matching outfits. Bombs. Government experiments. Really cool sunglasses. Gratutious manflesh ogling opportunities. Using goverment experiements on your friends. More silly outfits. Brilliant scientists and military disasters. The beautiful, meaningful Bromance between Miles Dyson and hot Middle Aged White Guy. Tentacles. Freezing time and blowing shit up. Portals to other dimensions. Robots! Aliens! Adorable kids! Goofy grown-ups! People who love each other, even when they are giving each other a REALLY hard time.
This is, above all else, a show about wacky wacky hijinks of the highest nerd order.
And now I really want to go watch this show!
Stranger 7
All I knew about this fandom was:
It has something to do with scientists
Here's what this fandom is really about:
OMG, how much do I want to work in this place? It is AWESOME. They seem to be working on interplanetary DOODADS! They have thingies hovering in plasma! The thingy is a power source for a giant ray they can shoot into SPACE! And blow up alien invaders, clearly. Makes the fireworks seem kinda tame in comparison.
They also develop electric cars. Good ones that can actually go fast! Except they’re tiny so they’re kinda funny looking zooming along. I still want one. It seems to be an entire town of shiny science stuff. Which makes the school science fair rather interesting, to say the least.
I’m starting to think the whole town is science focused. That’s why there are random people standing in front of a coffee shop with molecular models and devices. But, umm, guys? You’re not supposed to wear your labcoat outside the wetlab. Health and Safety would NOT approve. They are clearly singing “Who wants to buy this bleepy thiiiiiiiiiing?” Just ‘cause.
It’s not always all science all the time though! They organized Taichi for Nerds! So everyone feels comfortable! And they seem to have a chapter of the SCA too. They’re the ones who are doing the research on the time space continuum that causes everything to slow down in the town every once in a while.
When the really weird alien stuff shows up, so does the military. They don’t really accomplish all that much. Wouldn’t it be nice if just once the alien threat WASN’T completely immune to bullets? Good thing the people at the facility have all their neat gizmos!
Since the military didn’t help much, the scientists had to redouble their efforts. Now they’re working on a teleporter so they can go fight the aliens face to face! Dixon in Goggles seems to be the major player in this project. Go Dixon in Goggles!
Ooh, Dixon in Goggles learned how to shoot a gun in among all the body scans of the aliens. The aliens are really shiny, so he designed rapidly deploying sunglasses. I’m not sure why they couldn’t just use regular sunglasses, but these ones are SO COOL that I’m not going to complain.
Ooh, they also developed a gadget that lets people Matrix it up when fighting. Good for them!
Aww, Dixon in Goggles is gonna have a baby. Well, his wife is. There’s so much weird stuff in this show, I feel I must clarify that.
Ooh, they’re also building robots. Are those to fight the aliens? Or just to run errands? On a treadmill.
I bet the red glowy gun is for fighting aliens. That’s what I’d use it for if I had an alien problem.
MONKEYS AND GEESE. The monkeys appear to be running the control thing to the big teleporter thing. Good for them. The geese mostly seem to be there to pester Bureaucrat Man.
They seem to be excited with all the progress they’re making. Ooh, they made something that shoots fire! All science is better with fire! Except then the adapted it to shoot a big green death beam into space. These scientists must be so sad their skills are being used for violent weapons instead of time travel thingies.
The invisibility cloak needs work though. First it disappears the person... but not the cloak. Then it disappears the clothes and nothing else. Neither of these really accomplish the goal.
Dixon in Goggles has to test the teleporter. His wife doesn’t like this notion very much, but she knows it has to be done. After a bit of fighting, he steps into the... stargate? Which leads into a giant brain thing. Freaky.
It also travels in time, sending him forward to when his kid is over. His wife is rather happy to finally see him after all these years that are but minutes to him. And there is snuggling.
Stranger 8
All I knew about this fandom was:
zilch. Perhaps it's about Einstein, I think to myself, and then I think, wait, was he the one who said "eureka"? Someone said it, I'm sure of it, and it's possibly about that guy.
Here's what this fandom is really about:
A team of Super Awesome Researchers (team members include Token Female, Token Non-Whitey, and Token Blokey-Male) discover that there’s a parallel universe, and they also work out how to get there! Unfortunately, when they get there (and discover that it’s simultaneously cooler AND weirder than they ever could have imagined), they realise that they hadn’t worked out a way to get home again. So they pretend to be a team of Super Awesome Investigators/Problem Solvers. The show is mostly about them a) engaging in wacky hijinx, b) helping people who are in trouble, and c) attempting to find a way home. Eventually they start to come to grips with the fact that there is no way home, and start to form emotional attachments to the people they’ve met. It is during this time that they discover the way home! Hurrah! Unfortunately, Token Non-Whitey is about to propose to the lady with whom he has had a child. They sadly say goodbye as he leaves forever, to go back to his old home. It’s pretty sad.
Stranger 9
All I knew about this fandom was:
I knew the name from ads on Stargate: Atlantis, and anything associated with SGA has to be good! I believe it is sci-fi, but I also think I heard somewhere that it was about a small town somewhere or, um, something. I could be making all this up, who knows? I can tell you with absolute certainty, however, that it is about people. They, uh, do stuff.
What this fandom’s really about:
So, clearly I was wrong about the sci-fi and the small town (and also the people!), because actually this show is about the adventures of Sid the Druggie Chameleon. These adventures mostly involve bizarre sci-fi-esque technologies, animals in unexpected places, and lots of people wandering around naked. There are worse adventures to have, really.
The show is set in an ordinary small town where people do ordinary things like make floating pyramid sculptures and learn martial arts from holographic teachers and play fourway chess against their four clones. Then! One day, the locals’ lives are turned upside-down when a giant metal phallic object is dropped in the middle of their town. Suddenly, the military is storming in with teams of scientists. Soon, giant laboratories with large satellite dishes are being constructed (the satellites don’t actually do anything except give them really good tv reception, but damn do they look impressive). The scientists wander around looking pensive and intrigued by all the bizarre occurrences in the town, but they don’t actually do very much except wave clipboards around and stare at pretty lights. They do get followed around by ducks and accidentally turn people into chimpanzees rather a lot, though.
Apart from Sid, the hero of this show is Henry, who owns a garage which is secretly a lab for building robots. He also does actual research. He is adorably dorky and wears giant goggles and talks into magnifying glasses. He has a boyfriend called Larry, who exercises wearing a t-shirt that demands everyone RELAX, and he takes this advice so seriously himself that he mostly tends to forget about clothes (Henry doesn’t really mind). There’s also Officer Badass, who walks around with massive guns and is, as her name suggests, fucking badass. There also seem to be a couple of other people who help Henry in secret lab. This mostly consists of trying to stop the government-funded idiots blowing up the world while doing their job for them and managing to keep the town’s cars running perfectly.
There seem to be lots of things exploding and implausible technological machines and general crazy sci-fi hi jinks going on. Most people seem to either wear party costumes, hazmat suits or nothing at all. People randomly turn invisible and apparently there’s a kid with magical healing powers or something. And robots. Lots of robots. There are also pretty girls who can’t seem to decide if they’re going to shoot each other or snog.
Conclusion? This show seems awesome and I want to watch it now! (I hope it really is as cracky as it seems...)
Stranger 10
All I knew about this fandom was:
I conflate it in my mind with Psych. I wasn't sure why I did that until I saw who the vid was by: talitha78! Aha! I have seen this vid. It's 'that other show I don't know that talitha78 vids' (the first being Psych). Despite that I can't remember a thing about it except that it may be comedy?
What this fandom’s really about:
A small town in America holds an annual convention where all the science nerds can gather and geek out at each other's useless inventions. Things like holograms, atom bombs, healing technology, robots ... Small stuff. Naturally the army shows up to make sure they can sign up anyone who's actually got anything interesing. There are lots of little pocket cliques among the science nerds: the chess guys, the kendo recreation club... you get the picture.
There are two main characters. Let's call the first one Steve. It's Steve's first time at the convention and he drives up in his little hybrid (clearly he has a social conscience), determined to change the world. The second character is the guy I liked in Jericho (though I can't remember either the actor's name or the character's). Let's call him... Cool Dude. Cool Dude's one of the convention organiser. His job is to clear up all the messes amateur scientists create. He and Steve are old college buddies but he's never persuaded Steve to come work with him before. Now Steve's here to make a difference! Until he sees it's all just a bit whacked. Never mind, some lolz result.
They experience some moments of satisfaction and a whole lot of frustration. This is a job where you never know what you'll face in the morning: ray gun technology, invisible people, energy fields... ducks.
While Steve's science skills aren't as great as Cool Dude's, he is good spirited about doing the physical work. And losing his clothes occasionally. At first there seems to be some subtext between Cool Dude and Steve, but this gets derailed when Cool Dude becomes fixated with doing more than just be a con organiser... he gets involved (unclear whether just as a friend or romantically) with a woman who is interested in the connection between religion and science. Steve is skeptical. Religious chick has a little kid who wants to be Cool Dude when he grows up, but who meanwhile gets treated as a test subject. Cool Dude and religious chick manage to freeze time, at least briefly. No one cares though it possibly cures religious chick's cancer. Yay.
There's a warm fuzzy ending to the show since it's mainly a feel good comedy. With some gratuitous shirt-removal by Steve.